Extension-reach for wagons



J. W. LANGDON, OF MARENGO, ILLINOIS.

EXTENSION-REACH FOR WAGONS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,372, dated February 16, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. V. LANGDON, of Marengo, in the county of McHenryand State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Extension-Reachfor lVagons; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description of the same,

reference being had to the annexed draw-v ings, making a part of thisspecification, in which-.

Figure l, is a longitudinal section of my improvement. Fig. 2, is atransverse vertical section of ditto, taken in the line Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding part-s in the twoigures.

This invention consists in forming the reach of two parts, one partbeing placed over the other, and connected by clasps or guides whichkeep them together but still allow them to slide longitudinally. To onepart a rack is attached and a pinion is fitted in the other, the piniongearing in the rack and provided with a stop or pawl the whole beingarranged as hereinafter described whereby an extension reach is not onlyobtained but also a device to assist t-he team in extricating wagonsfrom sloughs and helping them over obstacles.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention I will proceed to describe it.

A, B, represent the two parts of the reach, the front axle beingattached to the front end of part B, and the back axle to the back endof part A. To the part A, two clamps or guides (a) (a) are attached inwhich thepart B, is fitted and allowed to slide therein. The clamps aremerely metal plates attached to the sides of the part A and having theirends bent in a horizontal position to inclose the part B as shownclearly in Fig. 2. In the upper surface of the part B, there in fitted arack C, and in the back end of the part A a pinion D is placed saidpinion gearing into the rack C. The axis (o) of the pinion D projectsbeyond the side of the part A, and has a square (c) formed on it. To theupper surface of the part A there is attached by a pivot (d) a pawl E.This pawl fits over the pinion D and has several teeth (e) in its underside which fit between the teeth of the pinion. The pawl is secured downupon the pinion by means of a thumbscrew F.

From the above description of parts it will be seen that by loosening orunscrewing the screw F, the pawl E may be raised and by turning thepinion D, by applying a wrench to the axle (2)) the two parts A, B, maybe extended and the reach made of the desired length the parts whenadjusted as desired being firmly secured by placing the pawl E, over thepinion D and securing it down on the part A by the thumb screw F. Incase the front wheels of the wagon enter a slough and the team is unableto draw them out, the driver by raising the pawl E free from the pinionD, applying the wrench to the axis (Z2) and exerting his strength so asto turn the pinion D in the direction of the arrow, at the same timeurging the team forward the front wheels may be readily raised out ofthe slough the back wheels being blocked or scotched so as to preventtheir backward movement. The back wheels are assisted out of sloughs byblocking or scotching the front wheels so that they cannot movebackward, and then attaching the team by means of a rope or chain to thefront end of the part B, and turning the pinion as before and urgingforward the team.

rIhis reach may be cheaply constructed and will prove highly valuable inthose cases where it is designed to employ the same running gear forboth box wagons and wagons for drawing lumber and similar articles wherea box is not required and where the reach requires to be varied inlength according to the work to be performed.

I am aware that reaches have been devised in various ways so as to berendered capable J. WV. LANGDGN. Vitnesses WM. P. CLINE, E. B. STEINNER.

